Out of the Blue
by Oulie
Summary: Post Angel NFA. The battles done, and we kinda won, where does Spike go from here? To Rome of course! WIP
1. One Way Ticket to Rome

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Whedonverse. I wish I did, but alas, I'm not as clever as him. I'm just borrowing them for this here piece of work. I hope you like, Please review. I'm working on the next installment now. ï

"Well that's the last of them, they're all dead now." Spike said as he headed towards the road. "Was great doing business with you Angel. But, I gotta girl I go to go find and win back." He watched as his grandsire clearly fought back the urge to run after him and dust him right there, right then. "Cheers peaches!" He said as he exited the alleyway that he, Angel, Illyria and Gunn had just killed the entire Senior Partners death patrol. Illyria had done some weird mojo to them, making them all invincible. Something Spike and surely the others were truly grateful she had kept hidden until then. She was a mystery. Spike knew he'd be back to LA, if so just to check up on the blue one. Spike found the closest taxi and directed the driver to the International Airport. If Wolfram & Hart had still been on their side, then he'd be halfway to Europe already. All of a sudden his phone started ringing. He accepted the call.

"'Ello?"

". . . ."

"Really, you understand? Well, if you feel the need."

". . . ."

"Okay, when I see her, I'll tell her you'll be on your way soon."

". . . ."

"Bye."

He finished the call and put the phone back in his duster pocket. It had been Angel. He had decided to go for a trip to Europe too. Once he had organized it with Connor and the others. Not for the same reasoning that Spike was going for, but just to get away and catch up with the scoobies now that he was free of Wolfram & Hart, maybe they'd treat him a bit differently.

When he reached the tickets desk, he smirked at the girl behind the computer. In the old days, he would have jumped the desk and drained the life from her via her neck and then followed by doing the same to everyone else in the international terminal. But he was different now. He was a different Spike. He had a soul, he had a mission, he had a girl to sweep off her feet, and he felt kind of queasy. He held his stomach as it rolled around uneasily. He shook it off – probably something to do with the huge battle that he had just fought. His body was probably still regaining its normality. It was the least of his worries, considering he could have been dust instead of being here.

"Ello luv"

"Good evening, how may I help you?"

"Me, I'm after a ticket to Rome"

"Was that a one way or return ticket?"

"One way luv" He wasn't going to be heading back here in a hurry.

"And was that a seat in Business or First class?"

Spike thought for a minute. "First class thanks" He smiled mischievously. He still had his Wolfram & Hart Unlimited Staff Credit Card with him.

"No worries, now all I need is your passport"

Spike pulled out a passport shaped book that was a bit worse for wear.

"Here you go luv"

"Thank you Mr. William" she said, noting his surname.

After a few minutes, she handed him back his passport and his crisp, still warm from the printer, airline ticket.

"Thanks pet"

"Thank You Mr. William, have a safe flight"

He nodded to her and smiled to himself as he made it towards the departure gate. In a few short hours he'd be able to go and see her again. The last time he'd spoken to her was a year ago. Underneath the High School back in Sunnydale, just before he'd turned into a big pile of dust. She had told him that she loved him, and he hoped that she still felt that way. Of course, he'd sighted her a few weeks back, dancing on some random Roman dance club's dance floor, when he and Angel were sourcing the Immortal. It had taken all his might to stop himself from ripping her away from that bastard. How dare he try to take his girl? Spike had to stop himself. He was getting very worked up about her being with that ponce. He had by now made his way to the departure gate. He handed the hostess his ticket and boarded the plane.

Once he had found his seat, he quickly sat down – scared he was going to fall over. He felt worse now than he had before at the desk when he was getting his ticket. It was like he had felt before the big dusting incident last year at the school. He couldn't let anything happen before he was reunited with her. He felt as if someone had shot him with a poisoned arrow and the poison was washing over him in waves. The next one made him pass out in his seat on the plane. The next thing he knew he was being woken up by on of the flight attendants.

"Mr. William, we've just landed in Rome. You're the last passenger left on the plane."

"Oh, thanks luv" He tried to get up, but failed all of his muscles were aching.

"Are you okay Mr. William? You don't look too good"

"Yeah luv, right as rain, thanks" He said in defiance of how he really felt. He didn't want to look like a ponce. He managed a smile towards the caring attendant and gained enough focus to walk off the plane. His brain was in a mess. He made his way out of the arrival lounge and found his cell phone. He managed to pull out a piece of paper with a phone number on it. He shakily dialed the number.

". . . ."

"Ello luv"

". . . ."

"I'm at the Airport"

". . . ."

"Rome Airport"

". . . ."

"Well just now. Look, I'm not feeling too well at the minute and was wondering if you could swing by the airport and pick me up."

". . . ."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few luv. Arrival lounge number seven."

". . . ."

"Bye bit"

He shook his head to try and clear it and headed to one of the sofas back in the arrival lounge. He'd never felt like this before, not since before he had been turned. He remembered vaguely, back when he was a human, he had had pneumonia, his mother had been worried sick and it had looked like he wasn't going to make it at one point. Many people died back in the day from pneumonia. But he knew that it wasn't that. Vampires couldn't get sick from human diseases. But he truly felt sick. He decided to close his eyes and rest in the hope that he would soon feel better, he had to, for her.

"Spike" she whispered in his ear, shaking him ever so slightly. She had noted that he looked run down, weak and in need of a good serving of blood. She hadn't seen him this bad since the Initiative had first put the chip in his head. It was then that he started to stir. He opened hi eyes and set his sights on her. She had grown up so much in the last year. She was now ever much the woman he imagined she would grow up into.

"Nibblet" he forced out. He then realized that he had passed out for the second time today.

"Hey big bad, what's happening? What's wrong with you?"

"I haven't a clue pet. I've been like this since just before I left Los bloody Angeles"

"Well, lets get you back to the house and we'll work out what to do from there. Get you back on your feet."

"Fine by me 'bit. Tis good to see you"

"Good to see you too" she smiled at him as she helped him in getting up off the sofa. His legs felt like Jell-O. But he managed to make it to the taxi rank and into the first available taxi, with Dawn's help.

When Dawn was finally in, she said something to the taxi driver that he was unable to understand. Not that he cared much, he trusted her to get them back. She could have been talking in Ancient Sumerian and he wouldn't have cared. He was so close to seeing her again he couldn't fade to black just yet.

About fifteen minutes later, well that's what it felt like to him, they arrived at the little place that he recognized as being the place they had come to a couple of months previous and been fronted by the boy. He'd helped himself and Angel, so he couldn't complain. He was waiting for him to come out and fuss over him like mother duck.

Dawn helped him out of the cab, paid the driver and helped Spike up into the house. Buffy wasn't home at the moment, and it seemed like the boy wasn't even, which was possibly a good thing, considering the current condition he was in. He didn't want Buffy to get upset and didn't want the boy fussing over him like he was Yoda. Dawn helped him get comfortable on the couch and headed into the kitchen. She moved over to the phone on the wall and picked up the receiver. There were a couple of people that might be able to help that she had to ring to try and get this mess with him sorted out, and before Buffy got home. . . . .


	2. Working Things Out

Dawn dialed the first number, waiting for someone to puck up at the other end.

'. . . . '

'Hey Ken, it's me, is Willow there?'

'. . . . '

'Okay, thanks'

'. . . . '

'Hey Will, it's me, just wondering if you could pop by here this morning.'

'. . . . '

'Nothing, I didn't do anything. But it's something we have to deal with before Buffy gets home tonight.'

'. . . . '

'I swear, I didn't do anything'

'. . . . '

'I can't. You'll find out when you get here, but it's something me, in my ex-Keynes can't deal with by myself.'

'. . . . '

'About half an hour?'

'. . . . '

'Thanks Will, see you soon.'

She turned the phone off. One down; one to go. After she dialed the second number, she listened as it only rang twice before someone picked it up.

'. . . . '

'Hey Giles, it's me. Just wondering what you're up to this afternoon'

'. . . . '

'Good, would you mind coming over here to our place this morning?'

'. . . . '

'Nothing's wrong per say, I just need a hand with something'

'. . . . '

'Thanks Giles, see you in about half an hour'

'. . . . '

"Bye'

She placed the phone back on the wall, and headed back to the living room, where Spike was still in the same spot on the couch as he had been when Dawn had helped him to it when they first arrived back. He looked anything but peaceful. His skin was paler than normal. She hated seeing him like this, helpless and in pain. He had become quite a part of her life back in Sunnydale; she wasn't going to let him fade away again from her life, once had been enough. She needed to do this for him; he'd never give up on her, if something was to ever happen to her. She needed to do it for Buffy. Dawn knew that her sister still had feelings for the vampire somewhere. And lastly she needed to do it for herself. Spike was one of her closest friends; he was part of the family. She wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

Dawn looked at her watch. Willow and Giles should be here any moment soon. She'd made herself comfortable on the floor, next to the couch. Just to keep an eye on him. She noticed that he was sweating. She reached and felt his forehead; she knew it would be a wasted exercise, but did it nonetheless. She was surprised that his forehead was quite warm. Whatever it was that was going on with him really was screwing him around. She wasn't even going to try and explain this one, she'd wait for Giles and Willow to arrive before she sent her head into a spin trying to work out what was wrong with him. At that instant, Dawn heard a crashing sound, she got up, smiling to herself and made her way to the front door. She opened to find Willow standing on the other side of the doorway.

'Still haven't perfected that teleporting thing yet Will?' she giggled at her friend.

'Uhm, yeah, still haven't got the arrival part 100 per cent yet' she smiled back at Dawn.

'Well, you'll just have to keep practicing to make perfect then' Dawn said as she gestured for the redhead to come inside.

'So what's the big deal? Why did I have to teleport all the way here on such short notice? I was in the middle of teaching a class'

Dawn lead her to the living room where, when she moved away, Willow was confronted with the icky mess that was Spike.

'That's why you had to come here straight away Will,' she said, pointing to Spike's lifeless body on the couch. 'I picked him up from the airport about 2 hours ago, and he's only been getting progressively worse since then. He's sweating all over the place, and he feels warm, which, last time I checked up on my vampire knowledge, wasn't usually how they were temperature-wise.'

'Oh my goddess' was all Willow could manage to mutter as she moved towards the couch that Spike was on. 'And Buffy knows nothing of him being here?'

'No, she doesn't, and I'd prefer if she knew nothing until we work out what's happening. He obviously came to her for a reason. And the reason is clearly her; even a blind person could see that.'

'Did you call him? Tell him what happened between Buffy and The Immortal? Is that why he came back?' Willow asked, knowing that Dawn had a soft spot for Spike.

'NO! I didn't!! I don't know how you could think that Willow. I hadn't heard from in a couple of months. Hadn't even heard of him from then, until Andrew said he'd been here last month looking for The Immortal. Not that it would matter if I did. It's not why I asked you to come over here. As you can clearly see, he needs help, I have no clue as to what's wrong with him, I've talked to him for about a whole of ten minutes since I met him at the airport'

'Okay, have you phoned Giles?' Willow questioned, trying to move as far away from the whole debate about how Spike got to Rome and why

'Yes, he should be here very soon, I called him after I'd finished on the phone with you.' Dawn said defiantly, she couldn't believe Willow could accuse her of asking Spike to come back.

Dawn decided to head into the kitchen while they were waiting for Giles. "Would you like a drink Willow?' She said as she headed to the fridge to get herself one.

'Thanks Dawnie, that'd be great'

'What would you like we've got OJ, Coke and Water.'

'Water will be fine thanks' she said as she reached for the bottle of water that Dawn was handing her.

Dawn looked at her watch, and as if on cue, there was a buzz on the monitor at the front door. Dawn made her way to the monitor, looked to find Giles standing at the front door. 'Come on up Giles' she said as she pressed the button to unlock the front door. She then made her way back to the kitchen to put the kettle on, because no doubt after Giles found out the reason why she'd called him to come here, he'd need a cup of tea.

She and Willow made their way back to the front door. Dawn opened the door to find Giles there. Both hugged him.  
'It's good to see you Giles' Dawn said. She hadn't seen the former watcher in over a month. He had been busy in Cleveland helping a group of Slayers work in keeping the place as vampire free as you could when there was a Hellmouth in the vicinity.

'It's good to see you both as well. I teleported here as quickly as I could, now what was I called here for so frantically? I hope it's of some importance, I was busy researching a Bur'kalan demon that's threatening to terrorize Cleveland' Giles questioned Dawn, at least she didn't feel guilty this time, not like the time she'd called Giles to teleport over the case of Buffy's missing birthday present.

'Of course it's important Giles. Like I'd get you to teleport over here immediately if it wasn't for a second time' Dawn smiled, and then her face became more serious. Giles gestured for some sort of explanation.

'Living Room' was all Dawn said.

Giles moved towards the living room, just as Dawn had instructed. When he set his eyes on Spike, he stopped in his tracks.

'He came to Rome a couple of hours ago. I picked him up from the airport, he was barely conscious then, and he's been out to it since I put him on the couch. I thought that ringing you and Willow was the best of bets.'

'And he didn't say anything about if he'd done anything to cause him to be like this? A demon's name or something...anything?' Giles questioned.

'He's barely said anything to me since I met him at the airport. I asked him what was wrong with him and said he didn't have a clue, said that he'd been like this since he left L.A.'

'Have you spoken to Angel Dawn?' Giles asked.

'Not yet, I wanted to wait and see what you wanted to do first. I'll do it now.' Dawn said as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the number to Angel's cell.

It wasn't long before he answered it

'. . . . '

'Hey Angel, its Dawn'

'. . . . '

'Not much, look I'm ringing for a reason, Spike's turned up here in Rome and he's a bit worse for wear.'

'. . . . '

'Well, I'm not really sure, Giles and Willow are here and Giles asked me to ring you to see if anything out of the ordinary has happened lately.'

'. . . . '

'Mmm Hmm'

'. . . . '

'Well, I s'pose you could call that something out of the ordinary.'

'. . . . '

'He's sweating, he's got a temperature, keeps on passing out in the sense that he hasn't been conscious for more than 10 minutes since he arrived here.'

'. . . . '

'Okay, I'll wait to hear back from you and we'll keep up at this end.'

'. . . . '

'Thanks Angel, bye'

Dawn ended the phone call and put her cell phone back in her pocket.

'So what did he say? Anything happen recently that might help in finding out what happened to Spike?' Willow asked her.

'He said that there was a major apocalypse in Los Angeles only a few hours ago. The Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart declared all out war on them. Only four of them survived, Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria. He said that he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that might have caused Spike to end up the way he has. He's going to try and get in contact with some of his old sources and said he'd get back to us as soon as possible.'

'So what do we do till then Giles?' Willow questioned.

'What we do best, I assume.' He said.

Dawn and Willow answered almost mechanically 'Research'

Willow pulled her laptop out of the bag she had brought with her.

The three spent the next few hours researching. When it got to lunchtime, Dawn ordered a pizza and they ate that and were soon back into the research. Angel checked in a couple of times and gave them a couple of pieces of information that helped them in the basic sense. Dawn felt that Angel might have been keeping something from her – Something big. She just couldn't put her finger on what it might be. She didn't want to let on to the others, but he seemed hesitant to tell her something. Something that was close to home. She'd have to think about it some more before he rang back with another update.

'What time is Buffy due home Dawnie?' Willow asked, looking at her watch, which read 4pm.

'Today's Thursday, so she'll be working till 10. So, she'll be home by about 11 o'clock tonight.'

'Well, that gives us a few hours still to work out what's happening with Spike' Giles commented looking over to where Spike was still laying on the couch. He'd woken up a couple of times. Not long enough to get any information from him. Each time he woke up, he seemed to be crazier than before.

Willow had mentioned earlier on that he reminded her of the Spike she'd met in the basement of the high school back in Sunnydale when she returned from England last year.

That gave Dawn an idea. She sat herself down in front of her laptop and typed her heart out, obviously set on finding some information out on a particular subject.

'What is it Dawn?' Giles asked.

'Something, just give me a minute and a couple of phone calls and I'll be able to tell you.' She blurted out, as she continued to tap away at the keyboard on the computer. She was scribbling down a few things as she went on a piece of paper next to her. None of it made any sense to Willow or Giles. When Dawn had finished at the computer, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.

'. . . . '

'It's Dawn again; I think I've worked out what might be causing Spike's sudden illness.'

'. . . . '

'You know, I know you know. It's to do with him having a soul. I found the documents you signed the other day. When you were a member of the Black Thorn'

'. . . . '

'You signed it away, I know, that's what the document that they got you to sign was about.'

'. . . . '

'So what was yours is now his then?'

'. . . . '

'I'm guessing that's what's happening to him now. After the battle, it's time to redo what's been done in times past?'

'. . . . '

'Why didn't you just tell me? At least then we would have known what was happening to him'

'. . . . '

'Don't give me any of that crap Angel. It's not worth it; the main thing is that we know now. We can begin to help him now.'

'. . . . '

'Of course we need your help. From what I've read it's going to be rough on him, dealing with all that.'

'. . . . '

'Anything you can find will be welcomed.'

'. . . . '

'I don't mean to be cold and harsh, it's just if you had of told us earlier, then we wouldn't have spent all day searching. I'm not going to hold it against you and any information you can find for us will be most appreciated.'

'. . . . '

'Yes?'

'. . . . '

'You are? Is this because of recent events?'

'. . . . '

'Oh, okay, well we'll look forward to it then.'

'. . . . '

'Take care Angel, we'll talk again soon'

'. . . . '

'Bye'

Willow and Giles were sitting across from Dawn at the table, eagerly waiting for her to tell her about what information Angel had had for her.

'Well?' Willow asked impatiently.

'Well . . .' Dawn dragged on, 'Before the battle with the Wolfram & Hart army that Angel and the others had, which I told you about earlier, it seemed that Angel signed away his part in the Shanshu Prophecy.'

'Shanshu Prophecy' Giles mumbled, flicking through pages of various books, obviously trying to find some writings about said prophecy.

'Don't worry Giles, I can tell you the story of it all later. But the main thing is that the prophecy stated that when the vampire with a soul, once he fulfilled his destiny, will Shanshu. Become human. - It's his reward.'

'Oh' Willow and Giles both said in unison.

'Yeah, so when Angel signed away the Prophecy before destroying the Wolfram & Hart army, somehow, the prophecy didn't completely stop. The Members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, that got Angel to sign his part in the prophecy away, didn't really have their fingers on the pulse, because for some reason they didn't realize that Spike was around and all soul having. So, in the short of it, when Angel signed it away, Spike got lumped with it and the apocalypse of the senior partner's army, bumped him up to Shanshu-worthy.'

With that, all three of them all looked in the general direction of Spike as he grunted and rolled over slowly on the couch. The next few weeks could be interesting. . . . .


End file.
